August 24, 2010

Road caves and tempers rise on I-93 (Boston Globe, MassDOT)State toils to fix gaps attributed to neglect
By Eric Moskowitz -- The surface of Interstate 93 ruptured here yesterday for the second day in a row, creating a gash large enough to swallow a car and snarling traffic for miles while the state performed emergency repairs that officials said will have the road open for this morning’s commute. Engineers were forced to close three of four northbound lanes, causing tens of thousands of motorists to idle on the traffic-snarled interstate or scramble for alternate routes.

Comm Ave bike lanes, rough draft to final design [BU Bridge to Packards Corner] (Allston-Brighton Bikes)
Bike lanes have been painted from Packard’s Corner to BU Bridge! Another piece of the thermoplastic puzzle is down! Fresh 5-ft wide path down the street! That means we can bike all the way from Allston to the Public Garden, through the entire Back Bay, following the little helmeted bike-dude on the pavement! So many exclamation marks can’t contain the excitement!!!

Signals crossed on Worcester link (Boston Globe, NECN, Worcester Telegram)Cambridge gets belated heads-up on Murray's North Station plan
By Eric Moskowitz -- The commuter rail has been Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray’s signature issue since he took office as a Worcester city councilor more than a decade ago. He has pushed for more frequent, more reliable, and more extensive service as a boon for his hometown and the state, and as a way to broaden his appeal in suburbs and exurbs beyond Boston. But his chief rail concern — promoted in stump speeches, forums, and letter-writing campaigns — has been adding round trips between Worcester and Boston.

After accident, mayor of LA is bike advocate (Boston Globe, Streetsblog LA)
By Daisy Nguyen -- LOS ANGELES -- Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is the new champion of cyclists’ rights in the nation’s second-largest city, a conversion that came after a bone-breaking fall from his own bicycle. The mayor, who said little on the topic during five years in office, is campaigning to make streets safer for cyclists after a parked cab abruptly pulled out across a bike lane, causing him to shatter an elbow. The ill-fated ride was his first on city streets since taking office.

New traffic signals make it safer for pedestrians (USA TODAY)
By Mike Chalmers -- As a freshman at the University of Delaware, Caitlin Gormley had to dash across a busy two-lane road to reach her Introduction to Animal Science lab on a research farm south of campus. "I tried once on my bike, but I felt uncomfortable so I stopped after that," said Gormley, 20, now a junior pre-veterinary medicine major who drives to the farm. "It was pretty scary." A new kind of traffic signal in Delaware, the High-intensity Activated Cross Walk, or HAWK, became active Friday and will make crossing Delaware 72 safer for students beginning this semester, state transportation officials say.

The key to cycling safely? More cyclists (Montreal Gazette)Traffic-calming measures and bike lanes increase the number of cyclists and decrease the risk of collisions: study
By Michelle LaLonde -- MONTREAL -- The 2010 cycling season was just getting under way when the horrific news hit that three female cyclists had been killed, plowed down by a pickup truck on a dangerous stretch of Highway 112 near Rougemont. That high-profile collision focused the public eye on the vulnerability of cyclists for the first half of this summer, as for several weeks every collision involving the serious injury or death of a cyclist in or near Montreal got more than the usual share of media attention.